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For several reasons I made my first outing at Portage yesterday.  The reports I got from the previous day weren't great. Accomplished anglers had scored only a few fish at best. I even called my customers suggesting they switch to a later date. They couldn't switch so we watched the sun pop up as we headed east past the Port of Indiana. At least we were out on a picture perfect day. You can't catch them if you aren't there. 

A few hours later we'd assembled a surprisingly nice catch - mostly cohos - but one 10-pound king. 

My 9-rod spread included three downrigged lines, two divers and a pair of planer board lines on each side. Surprisingly, though I mixed weighted lines and long lines on the planers were loaded with both D/F and spoons, they went untouched. 

The king bit a Moonshine spoon (black/glow pattern), but all the cohos bit on dodger/flies. The studs were D/F on free sliders with the base lures 30 and 35 feet down. Both red and clown dodgers worked. The rest of the fish were on braid divers set back 60' on #3 setting. 

Best spot was 45' of water near the Pavillion.  

One thing of note was most of the cohos were "March" small. Only a few were the size I'd been catching at EC. Could have been some fish that had just left the offshore waters.  

Good to hear thanks Mike. DF setup as a free slider? Main line spoon probably? DF setup as a free slider is something I haven't ever tried but might this weekend now.

I  noticed a lot of coho at the Classic were smaller than the March and early April cohos as well. I'm also guessing they must have just come in shore and haven't been on bait. 

Kings seem to be on the skinnier side too. Hopefully everything bulks up fast now that bait is starting to arrive